Horace Mann Elementary School‘s Green Team, advised by fifth grade teacher Marie Hartford, has recently been named finalists in the third- through fifth-grade category of the national Siemens “We Can Change the World Challenge.”

The challenge is the nation’s premiere sustainability competition and is designed to give students the opportunity, tools and inspiration to create sustainable, reproducible environmental improvements in their school.

The Green Team at Horace Mann has garnered a lot of positive publicity for its work to create a no-idle zone in the school’s parking lot and encourage more students to walk to school using walking school buses. Horace Mann was also named one of the top 20 finalists in the country for this challenge and is the only finalist in Washington state.

Challenge winners will be announced on May 18.

For more information, visit www.wecanchange.com.